Job Losses Pose a Threat to Stability Worldwide

Jobs vanish around the globe as people worry more and countries struggle to enact policies to stabilize local economies. A UN agency estimates that job losses could total 50 million by the end of 2009, reports Nelson Schwartz for the New York Times. Many jobseekers could be bitter and prepared to protest and seek new political leaders. Economic instability has replaced terrorism as the biggest security threat, notes Dennis C. Blair, US director of national intelligence. “In emerging economies like those in Eastern Europe, there are fears that growing joblessness might encourage a move away from free-market, pro-Western policies, while in developed countries unemployment could bolster efforts to protect local industries at the expense of global,” Schwartz writes. Solutions could rest in collaborative rather than competitive economic policies on population control, immigration, innovation and education. Still, rich and poor in the world must adjust to a new employment and economic landscape. – YaleGlobal